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The director of Salt Lake City's Dual Immersion Academy is doing damage control after a graphic email was sent Saturday under his name to members of the school community.
Michael Westover said the email — with a bare-chested selfie and an image of naked genitals attached — is the latest incident in a years-long attack on his professional and personal reputation by a "relentless" cyberbully.
"I just want it to go away," Westover said. "I just want to stop being harassed."
Over the weekend, an email from the account michael.westover@utaheducationconsulting.com was sent to roughly 600 people. It included a photograph of Westover standing shirtless in a bathroom and another snapshot of male genitals, as well as text that boasted of criminal misuse of public education funding.
Westover, who also serves on the board of American Fork's Aristotle Academy, denied any involvement with the email.
He said he no longer uses the account the email originated from. His education consulting website was hacked two years ago, and that intrusion allowed someone to gain access to his work and personal email accounts, which were hosted through the site.
"This person, without me knowing it, was accessing personal emails and work emails from at least two different schools," Westover said.
The school director acknowledged taking the shirtless photo in a faculty bathroom at the Dual Immersion Academy, but declined to comment on the snapshot of naked genitalia.
"The picture I took was to my wife on my cellphone at 7:30 p.m. at night in a locked bathroom," he said. "No students were ever at risk or even close to being at risk."
Westover said he accidentally sent the bare-chested photograph to his wife from his school email account, a matter that was investigated last year by the State Office of Education's professional practices department. He said he was sorry for the photograph, but had already been disciplined by the State School Board.
Since then, someone with access to the photo has used it to send false emails in his name, Westover said.
The latest email to a person named "Allie" jokes about taking money out of academy accounts and paying an American Express bill.
"Don't worry though," the email says, "the DIA board pretty much does anything I tell them and believes anything I tell them."
In addition to the emails, the school director said, false Twitter and LinkedIn accounts have been created with his photograph and name and links to pornographic material.
"This person continues to drag me through the mud," Westover said.
Nate Williams, a parent and former Dual Immersion Academy Board member, was one of those who received the email.
He said it was unclear from reading the email whether it had been written by Westover or an impostor.
"I guess that's possible," he said. "But I got this email and it certainly appeared that it was Michael sending it."
Williams said regardless of who sent the email, he hopes the school's governing board will take steps to stop offensive material from being sent to parents in the future.
"Whoever sent it, whether it was Michael or someone else, it went out to multiple people," he said. "I hope they get to the bottom of who sent it, one way or the other."
For now, the school's board is sticking with its director.
Board President Mac Newbold sent an apology Saturday to the individuals who received the original email, in which he corroborated Westover's version of events.
In an email to The Salt Lake Tribune, Newbold said the cyberattacks have been a challenge for Westover and Dual Immersion Academy.
"We are looking into legal options," Newbold said, "since clearly this person isn't stopping and is getting worse."
Westover believes he knows who is responsible for the email but declined to name the person. He said he has filed reports with the Murray Police Department, but a department spokesman Monday could not confirm any open investigations.